2 comments:

Hi Janet,I like the Spanish way. The mother has her own name, the father is own name, the children take a name from each parent. For example. Carolina Sofia Garcia Delgado marries Jose Miguel Francisco Blanco. Their children are Maria Theresa Francisco Garcia, and Rosa Lolita Francisco Garcia. Then when their children marry, the tradition continues. But w/ each subsequent generation, one name is lost, I think.Here's an example from Wikipedia (that even confused me more):For example, if a man named Eduardo Fernández Garrido marries a woman named María Dolores Martínez Ruiz and they have a child named José, there are several legal options, but their child would most usually be known as José Fernández Martínez. Very strange. I liked it when girls were given their maiden name as a middle name, so that their family name wouldn't be lost. So I would be Penelope Anne Cole and when I married I'd be Penelope Anne Cole Smith. Or even drop the Anne or hyphenate it: Penelope-Anne Cole Smith. Then my kid would be Katy Cole Smith Leong. Something like that. I guess that's why Europeans have such long names--to honor both sides of the family. I just hate it that the woman's maiden name would be lost. But I think the hyphenated names have gone out of fashion and a lot of newlyweds are keeping their own name, especially if their education and work experience is in their maiden name. I've seen women change their names because they didn't like their name.

Yes, sometimes old ways made better sense than modern things. I was taught that a maiden name was automatically inserted between a woman's middle and new last names, but didn't realize that wasn't legally automatic. I never used my maiden name that way, but thought it was still there, if invisible. Of course with all the identity theft going on today I wouldn't want anyone to know my kids' mother's maiden name.

Subscribe to onwordsblog.blogspot.como

ABOUT ME

Author Janet Ann Collins has been a columnist for the Antique Explorer, a freelance feature writer for a newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area and her work has appeared in many other publications and she is the author of books for kids. As a teacher, she enjoys public speaking. Collins and her husband raised three foster sons with special needs in addition to their birth daughter and are now grandparents.

Twitter Updates

Twitter Updates

Premio Dardos Award

Premio Dardos means "prize darts" in Italian and it is given in recognition of cultural, ethical, literary, and person values transmitted in the form of creative and original writing. It was bestowed by Shari-Lyle-Soffe.